How Many Calories in a Pint of Cider?
The honest answer to how many calories in a pint of cider is a range: 205 for a dry pint, 239 for sweet, and 386 for the strong 7%-plus stuff. Per 100 ml that is 36, 42 and 68 kcal respectively. No other pub staple swings this widely with strength.
You'd need to walk about 41 minutes to burn the 205 calories in a pint of dry cider.
How long does it take to burn off a pint of cider?
A pint of dry cider is 205 kcal. Enter your weight to see how long it takes you to burn that off:
lb
| Activity | Time to burn 205 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 41 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 26 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 29 min |
| Jogging | 24 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 46 min |
Times are for a 154 lb (11 st) adult at a steady pace; change the weight to see yours. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Quick facts
- Pint and bottle portions
- Dry, sweet, strong and low-alcohol
- How does cider compare?
- The apple juice myth
- Most popular cider brands
- Cider FAQs
Quick facts
| Per 100 ml (dry cider) | Amount | RI%* |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 36 kcal (151 kJ) | 2% |
| Protein | 0 g | 0% |
| Carbohydrates | 2.6 g | 1% |
| Fat | 0 g | 0% |
| Fibre | 0 g | — |
| Sugar | 2.6 g | 3% |
| Salt | 0.02 g | <1% |
*RI = reference intake of an average adult (8,400 kJ / 2,000 kcal).
Verified nutrition data
Numbers on this page come from CoFID, the UK government’s Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset, and from manufacturer labels where a branded product is named. Last verified August 2026. How we verify our data →
Notice what is missing from that table: fat, protein, fibre. Cider brings almost nothing to the plate except energy, and that energy comes from two places only — the apple sugar left after fermentation and the alcohol itself.
That second part matters more than most drinkers realise. The NHS points out that alcohol is a concentrated source of calories in its own right, which is exactly why the strong ciders pull so far ahead of the dry ones even when they taste less sweet.
Pint and bottle portions
A UK pint is 568 ml, and cider is one of the few drinks where you genuinely need to know what style is in the glass before you can count it.
| Serving | Calories |
|---|---|
| Pint of dry cider (568 ml) | 205 kcal |
| Pint of sweet cider | 239 kcal |
| Pint of strong cider (7%+) | 386 kcal |
| 500 ml bottle, sweet | 210 kcal |
| Pint of low-alcohol cider | ≈97 kcal |
Read that middle column again. Two pints of strong cider carry 772 kcal — more than many people budget for an entire dinner. Meanwhile the low-alcohol pint, at roughly 97 kcal, costs less than half a dry one.
The 500 ml bottle is a useful halfway house: at 210 kcal for a sweet cider it lands close to a dry pint, simply because there is less of it. Portion size does half the work here, strength does the rest.
If you drink regularly, it is worth knowing the UK Chief Medical Officers' low-risk drinking guidelines recommend no more than 14 units a week. Strong cider spends those units — and your calories — faster than anything else on tap.
Dry, sweet, strong and low-alcohol
The four styles sit on a clean ladder per 100 ml:
| Style | Per 100 ml |
|---|---|
| Low-alcohol cider | 17 kcal |
| Dry cider | 36 kcal |
| Sweet cider | 42 kcal |
| Strong cider (7%+) | 68 kcal |
Dry to sweet is a modest step — 6 kcal per 100 ml, or about 34 across a pint. That is the residual apple sugar. Dry to strong is a different animal: nearly double the calories per millilitre, and the sugar is not the culprit. The extra alcohol is.
Fruit ciders sit above plain sweet cider on the label, because berry or tropical versions add syrup on top of the apple base. There is no single figure worth quoting — check the bottle — but the direction is always up.
Low-alcohol cider is the quiet winner of the category. At 17 kcal per 100 ml it undercuts even most soft drinks, and a full pint stays under 100 kcal.
How does cider compare?
Against the rest of the round, cider's position depends entirely on which cider.
| Drink | Serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Cider (dry) | Pint | 205 kcal |
| Beer (bitter) | Pint | 170 kcal |
| Guinness | Pint | 199 kcal |
| Corona | 330 ml bottle | 139 kcal |
| Wine (white) | 175 ml glass | 133 kcal |
The verdict: for the lightest full pint, order bitter — even Guinness, with its heavy reputation, beats a dry cider by a few calories. For the lightest drink overall, a bottle of Corona or a standard glass of wine wins; and a pint of strong cider, at 386 kcal, is the single most calorific standard serve at the bar.
The apple juice myth
Cider's image — orchards, apples, sunshine — makes it feel like the natural, lighter choice. The numbers disagree. A pint of dry cider already outweighs a pint of bitter, and strong cider nearly doubles it.
The related myth is that sweetness equals calories. In cider, strength is the bigger lever: a bone-dry 7.5% cider will out-calorie a sweet 4% one comfortably. If you are choosing by the label, look at the ABV before the tasting notes.
Most popular cider brands in the United Kingdom
Ranked by how widely each product appears among foods sold in the United Kingdom, from the BodyPal food database of over 3.3 million products. Calories are the figures printed on each label. Strength and sweetness move the number more than the badge does.
| Product | Calories (per 100 ml) |
|---|---|
| Thatchers Cider | 37 kcal |
| Strongbow Dark Fruits | 43 kcal |
| Thatchers Haze | 49 kcal |
| Thatchers Katy | 58 kcal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels.
Cider FAQs
How many calories in a pint of Strongbow?
Expect a mainstream 4–5% pint to land in the 205–239 kcal band that covers dry and sweet cider. Branded figures vary by recipe and ABV, so the can or the brand table below is the final word — but no standard-strength cider escapes that range by much.
How many calories in fruit cider?
More than the 239 kcal of a plain sweet pint — fruit ciders add flavoured syrup on top of the apple base, so they top the cider table. Labels differ widely between berry, mixed-fruit and tropical versions, which makes the bottle's own figure the only one worth trusting.
Dry vs sweet cider — how big is the difference?
34 calories a pint: 205 for dry against 239 for sweet, or 36 versus 42 kcal per 100 ml. The gap is real but modest. Strength matters far more — moving from a 4% to a 7%+ cider adds over 150 kcal to the same glass.
Is cider more calorific than beer?
Usually, yes. A dry cider pint is 205 kcal against 170 for a pint of bitter and 199 for Guinness. Strong cider stretches the gap to embarrassing: 386 kcal a pint, more than two bottles of Corona. Only low-alcohol cider, at roughly 97 kcal a pint, undercuts beer.
How much sugar is in cider?
A pint of dry cider carries about 15 g of sugar (2.6 g per 100 ml); sweet and fruit versions carry more. The NHS advises keeping free sugars low, and a couple of sweet pints can quietly use up a whole day's worth.
How many calories in a 500 ml bottle of cider?
About 210 kcal for a sweet cider — almost identical to a full pint of dry, because the smaller volume offsets the sweeter recipe. Bottles are the easier format to count: one bottle, one label, no guessing what the pub had on tap.
How many calories in low-alcohol cider?
Around 17 kcal per 100 ml, which makes a pint roughly 97 kcal and a 500 ml bottle about 85. That is less than half the calories of the dry original, and it is the only cider that fits comfortably into a weekday evening without moving the day's total.
Is cider fattening?
A pint runs 205–386 kcal depending on strength, and those calories arrive with no protein or fibre to blunt your appetite. Two strong pints equal a dinner. If you are watching your weight, dry or low-alcohol versions — and fewer of them — are the sensible end of the tap.
Similar foods
- Pint of Guinness — 199 kcal a pint
- Pint of beer — 170 kcal a pint of bitter
- Corona — 139 kcal a bottle
- Gin and tonic — 100 kcal a single G&T
- Pinot Grigio — 131 kcal a 175 ml glass
- Wine — 133 kcal a 175 ml glass
Count the pint, not the guess
Logging a drink honestly is half the battle, and BodyPal pulls the right cider — dry, sweet, strong or none-of-the-above — from a quick search or a photo of the label, so the pint goes in your day at its real number.
